Dude, where's my stuff?

This email which I sent this morning says it all:
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Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 12:37 PM
Subject: Air Shipment Issues

It is now after noon, 29 June 2010 in India. That is 3:00 AM Detroit time, 29 June 2010. My air shipment is still not in Chennai. Multi Moving in India believes the shipment is in Saudi Arabia and says Palmer must instruct the people there to ship our goods; MMS cannot act until the goods are in the Chennai airport.

OMG Moments

I knew what I was getting in to, and I really liked India and wanted to move here. So don't think everything is bad. The climate is great, the plants are beautiful, the food is out of this world, and the people are very nice. But I've had so many OMG moments the past few days I just have to share them:

The café at my hotel has a dinner buffet. Last night I saw an older man pick up a little cake with his fingers, look at it, and put it back on the buffet table. OMG!

I've had enough

We have messed around and messed around with Palmer Moving on getting our air shipment sent. First we had to argue about when the shipment could leave Michigan. This involved email and phone calls with Palmer's Indian partners to tell Palmer how to do their job. Now I've been waiting since last Wednesday, when our stuff was supposed to arrive, and it's not here yet. Seems they used a sub-contractor who sent the shipment via Saudi Airlines rather than direct to Lufthansa (which everyone assures me worked well for them). I've sent emails, made phone calls, asked for advise, yelled, swore, and cried.

First Weekend in Chennai

Weekend has been pretty good. Friday night I was invited an American co-worker's house for an American dinner of pork and mashed potatoes.Yum! There were a few other people there whose spouses are also out of town- it was nice to meet new people. It was a really nice time: good food, lots of laughs, I learned a little about World Cup soccer teams, and the couple's daughters are really sweet.

Stuff I've Learned (or remembered) The Past Few Days

When people drive on the left side of the road they walk on the left side of the hall. Walking on the right side of the hall will involve you in many of those hallway dances where people have to go around each other.

The long scarf I wear can be a liability (got to keep it out of the toilet) or an asset (handy to dry your hands or wipe your tears).

First Day in Chennai

Here is my day one report:

• Dragged myself out of bed at 8:00 AM (after going to bed at 2:00 AM the night before)
• Quick breakfast in the hotel (cereal and yogurt- Indian food for breakfast would be way too much)

Packing

Another historical entry that I didn't post directly:

From: Jennifer Raybourn
Date: Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 6:21 PM
Subject: Managing our stuff

As we subdivide our stuff into

• stuff we don't need (Goodwill or garbage)

Notes from our India house-hunting trip

Since I didn't get my act together and blog during the trip Clay and I took to India back in May, here are the email updates I sent at the time:

On 5/9/10, Jennifer Raybourn wrote:

We had a good day today in India. We arrived late since we missed our transfer in Frankfurt (we were re-routed through Dubai). So instead of visiting co-workers' homes as we had planned we spent most of the day sleeping. We got up around 5, walked around the hotel, sat outside by the pool, and had a nice dinner in the hotel. Tomorrow the prep work starts in earnest so we're calling it an early night tonight.
We had fun and are enjoying ourselves.